Excavating apparatus



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IAQ? c. L.. HANSEN EXCAVATING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 20. 1923 3 SheetsQSheet l INVENToR.

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April 15 1924a C. l.. HANSEN EXCAVATING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 20, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 CHRiSTIAN LHANSEN INVENTOR.

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UNITED STATES .incassi PATENT oFricE.

Exon/arme APPARATUS.

Application le'dctober 20, 1923. Serial No. 669,692.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN L. HAN- SEN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Charles City, in Floyd County, in the State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements ineExcavating Apparatus, and have described thesame in the following specification, illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

My inventionr relates in generall to that class of excavators which `are commonly used in digging ditches, canals and the like, and in forming embankments, and which individually comprise a drag bucket, or the like, and means, connected with a source of power, forloperatively lilling and emptying the bucket as well as for suspending the same while transferring it from the place of loading to the place of dumping. In apparatus of this class my invention relates particularly to those ex cavators which, like that describedl in patent application No. 636,549, filed by myself and another May 4, 1923, comprise a drag bucket, a gate for the, front end -of the bucket and means for yopening and closing the gate. It is the main object of the invention to provide means whereby gates of the general character described in said patent application may rbe conveniently combined with all, or nearly all, patterns of drag buckets in common use; to prevent parts of the apparatus from becoming bent by use and from becoming inoperative by reason of the deformation; to prevent parts of the apparatus from operatively striking the ground in advance of the bucket, when dropped, and from being bent or broken by so doing; and in gemeral to increase the simplicity and 'efficiency of dragline buckets having gates. To accomplish these objects I incorporate in my improved apparatus as parts thereof .a hauling bail having separate gr branches which are connected with' the bucket and with the mechanism for opening the gate respectively and a y pair of levers, resembling bellcranks, 'which are pivotally fulcrumed on 4the trunnions of the bucket respectively and are connected rigidly with the bucket gate as well as operatively with the bucket bails.

In said drawings, illustrating the best manner in which I have contemplated applying the principles of the invention, Fig.

1 is a side elevation of an excavating afp-- paratus which is constructed 1n accordancel closing a detail on the section line 6-6 of Fig. 1,l

with the addition of a locking bolt. Fig. is a detail on the section line 7--7 of Fig. 1.

In the illustrated specimen of the invention the bucket is denoted generally by the numeral 7.- Ithas the approximately parallel side walls 8, slightly convergent from front to rear, the arcuate bridge 9, span-A `ning the front end of the bucket from side to side, and the Hoor 10, having the an.

terior cutting edge 11. It is Open at the tcp and front and closed at the rear end. It is provided with the gate 12 for opening and the front end. of the bucket, .the rigid bail 13 for hoistingv and suspending the bu ket, bucket; and means connected 'with these bails for operating the gate. The latter is an oblong metallic plate nearly'as long as the clear internal Width of the bucket, approximately as wide fromtop to bottom as the depthof the bucket, and having a uniform arcuate cross-sectional curvature. It is carried by the duplicate and parallel lever arms 15 and v15, extending from its opposite ends to the duplicate levers 37 and 37, which are journaled on the bucket trunnions 16 and 16 respectively. Its cylindrical curvature lthe same as that of the path it follows about the common axis of these trunnions in opening and closing the bucket.y `The trunnions are bolted to the opposite sides of the bucket respectively in mutual alinement behind its center of p avity. Being journaled in the levers 37 respectively they constitute the fulcrums thereof. These levers may be regarded as plates, having on the contiguous trunnion, as shown best in Fig. 7, and three radial arms 39, 40 and Arm 39 is bolted to and continuous with one of the before-mentioned lever arms 15 of the gate; and arm 40 is joined to the hoisting bail 13 by the pivot bolt 42; while arm 41 is similarly pivoted to the rear end of a sliding bar 26, which is connected with the hauling. bail. The hoisting bail 13 has at its upper-end the chain bail 14 for hauling thev severallv a central hub 38` a pivot bolt 17 for attach-Y otally joined to the lever arms 40 respectively, as above indicated. Each bar 26 is affixed to the contiguous side of the bucket by the strap or keeper 44 and is normally slidable endwise therein, but may be locked 'immovably therein by the removable bolt 47. It extends from'the lever arm 41 t0- ward but not beyond the front end of the bucket and is terminally connected with the hauling bail 14 in the manner stated below. In this position the bars 26 are not exposed to violent contact with the ground when the` bucket is dropped to its loading position after dumping. For the purpose of holding the bucket constantly open and the gate inactive, whenever it is desired to use the excavator in that condition, each of the sliding bars 26 has a .bolt-hole 45 and -its strap 44 has a bolt-hole 46, which register with each other -when the gate is wide open, and the bolts 47 may be inserted in these holes in the position shown in Fig. 7.

The hauling bail 14, bein bifurcated behind the spreader bar 19, as at each end two branches 27- and 28, which are attached respectively to the bucket body by the bolts 48 and to the slidable bars 26 by bolts 49. These branches are of such predetermined length that when the bail is tensioned the branches 28 will draw the slidable bars forward and thereby open. the gate before the branches 27 will draw the bucket forward in its filling position on theground. By the junction plate 22 this bail is linked to the hauling rope 23 and to the holding rope 25, which runs on the pulley 2O and is attached to the top of the bridge 9 by the bolt 33.

In the operation of this excavating apparatus tension exerted upon the hauling bail 14 by the hauling rope 23, and communicated by the branches 28, the unlocked sliding bars 26, the levers 37 `and the lever arms 15iirst actuates and opens the gate 12, which is then retained in the position shown in Fig. 1 by continuance of the tension. Further tension from the hauling bail, being transmitted by the branches 27 to the body of the bucket, draws the latter forward on and into the soil, sand, mud or other lilling material, whereby the bucket is loaded in the manner of drag buckets in general. After the bucket has been lilled in this manner, upward tension is exerted on the hoisting bail by the cable 18. The resulting movement of this bail relative to the body of the bucket, first turns the levers 37 on the trunnions 16 to the position shown in. full lines in Fig. 4, andvthereby forcibly lowers and closes the gate. Then as the upnaeoev ward tension continues, the bucket is hoisted from the ground. Throughout the hoisting of the bucket and until the time of its dumping, it is held in an approximately horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 4, either by the hauling bail, tensioned from the hauling rope 23, or by the holding rope 25, tensioned from the same source, or by both of these instrumentalities conjointly. In this position, and with the gate closed, the suspended bucket may be transferred to the place of dumping by an appropriate movement of the suspending cable 18, as is usual with other drag buckets. l ,The hauling rope is then relaxed by the attendant and thereby the' holding rope 25 is also relaxed, the bucket is tilted forward by gravity to the discharging position shown in Fig. 5, the gate 12 is automatically pulled open by the chain 21, as shown in the same figure, and the load is dropped. Then the bucket may be swung back to its work for another load; and so on repetitiously.

I claim as my invention- 1. Excavating apparatus comprising a drag bucket having trunnions, levers ful,

crumed on the trunnions respectively, a hoisting bail pivotally connected with the levers, a gate rigidly connected with the levers and chained to the hoisting bail, and a hauling bail having branches connected with the body of the bucket and other branches connected with the levers respectively. f

2. Excavating apparatus comprising a drag bucket having lateral trunnions, levers fulcrumed on the trunnions respectively, a hoisting bail pivoted to the levers respectively, a gatel rigidly connected with the levers and chained to the bail, a pair of slidable bars ivoted to the levers respectively, and a auling bail connected with the body of the bucket and having branches connected with the sli'dable bars respectively.

3. Excavating apparatus comprising a drag bucket having lateral trunnions, a pair of levers fulerumed on the trunnions respectively, a hoisting bail terminally pivoted to arms of the levers respectively, a grooved pulley carried by the hoisting. bail, a gate rigidly connected with the levers and chained to the hoisting bail, a pair of slidable bars pivoted to other arms of the levers respectively, a hauling bail having one pair ofbranches connected with the slidable tively, a hoisting. bail pivotally attached to bars.I and a bifurcated hauling bail having mutually corresponding arms of the levers a pair of branches attached to the body of respectively, a gate rigidly mounted on the the bucket and another pair of branches l0 levers and chained to the hoisting haii, a connected with the slidable bars respec- 5 pair of slidable bars p'voted to other mutu-` tively.

ally col'iesponding arms 'of the levers respectively, means for locking the slidi CHRISTIAN L. HANSEN. 

